Ok so it's been two solid months, sorry. To be perfectly honest not too much has happened since the last time I wrote. It has started raining again so that's good news. Six months + without any rain is not my idea of fun. I've been on my own now since the end of April when my housemates moved home. So now's it's me, the dog, the guards, and some days in the week the cleaners and Tanti. It get's lame at times but there's still enough people around town that it's no problem.
I made another trip out to Bongande about three weeks ago now. While there I helped out at the maternity clinic weighing babies. Basically the babies are placed in a leather or cloth harness, much like would be used for one of those baby jumper toys we have in the states. The you take the kid and hang them on a hook that's a bent piece of re-bar with a small scale on the bottom. If I remember correctly at this point we weighed and gave shots to around 180 or more children. I didn't give anyone any shots.
This trip itself was less fun than normal. I was hotter than normal and the water at the pump kept being cut off. There still had not been any real significant rain at that point. The end of hot season is a bit rough because the types of food available diminish if you're not in Ouagadougou or a larger city. So at the Bogande market there were onions, small onions, big onions, onions with flies, onions with green stuff, and a various leaves. So at the end of the trip we were both ready to leave and get back into Ouaga.
It did rain once while we were in Bogande. As chance would have it we had decided to go out for a walk to the lake when it was rolling up. So as we were walking the large wall of dust and sand that precedes each storm was rapidly moving toward us. Imagine a wall of orange dust that stretches maybe 20 stories into the air and as far as you can see in either direction moving toward you at a rapid rate with winds blowing about 25mph. No think that you're not near your house. oops. We ended up right beside one of the two hotels in the town and ducked in there just as the rain got going. Doesn't matter the rain isn't the problem the dust is. So I've had a nice sniffle since this trip about three weeks ago.
Exams ended in my classes which was very nice so I have had no day time classes since mid-may. I continued teaching my night classes at the house just so I and my students would have something to do. But for the last week pretty much all my work has been finished. So now I'm waiting for my tickets out of Ouaga, should be the 19th. Tomorrow I'm leaving again for Bongande until Sunday, hopefully it's a better trip this time, like it would be nice if there's water this time.
This past Sunday we made it out to Pastor Zongo's church. IT's a one hour drive both ways to get there but the good news is we get feed, church wise and lunch wise. Pastor was nice enough to pray for my return to home. He prefaced the prayer with an explanation to the congregation saying, "We need to pray for Ben because he has to fly a lot and planes have a tendency to fall out of the air for no reason." Thanks pastor. At that church we pray out loud. So the congregation of maybe 50 all turned toward us and started yelling at us and God that we make it home safely. Good stuff.
I also manged to wash my passport about two weeks ago cause Africa hates me. So I had to go to the new US embassy very nice, huge, and chilled to the bone with America land style air conditioning. I'm sad there was no line for me to have to wait in. Sent my stuff off and got it back in a week. Sometimes it's good to live in a country no one's heard of. No I'm trying to get my visa (which is still valid) moved into my new book and not having a good time with it. Better luck next week perhaps. And if all fails they look at me like I'm stupid, tell me my visa's not right and kick me out anyway. It's win win. The pictures are from the forest near my house (that's the croc) and the other is from a mask festival that I didn't go to but my friend gave me pictures from it and it looks cool.
peace,
Ben
